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Month: December 2014

Lockwood and I see some pretty amazing plants on our geological journeys. Take this bright yellow beauty we found at Coquille Point in Bandon, Oregon:

Mystery botany I

That’s like a botanical nova on the ground! It was hugging the scarp along the hillside.

Mystery botany II

Oh, yes, I see you eyeballing all that geology there. Never fear, we shall be exploring it in earnest someday! Meanwhile, revert your eyes to the plant in question. It insists.

Mystery botany III

You can see how the wee flowers of the inflorescence start out rather subdued, but they appear to bust out in a kind of botanical riot as they age.

Mystery botany IV

Or perhaps they shed all those bits and reduce back to the flowers. I’m not sure. All I know is that a plant that looks a bit like a silly ornamental lettuce at first glance repays close inspection.

Mystery Botany V

And it’s surrounded by some pretty hardy stuff. This is an Oregon Coast headland, which is subjected to a lot of strong wind and lashing rain. There aren’t a lot of trees growing here. I suspect it’s because of the geology, but we’ll find that out when I finally write up the location. Someday. I promise it will happen!

Meanwhile, let’s zoom out and take one last look at our splodey yellow friend.

Mystery botany VI

Oh, nature. Even your modest little lovelies are somehow epic.

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Misha’s developed quite the catnip sensitivity in her old age. She never used to touch the stuff, but lately, she’ll go over to her scratch pad and demand some fresh drugs be dealt. We like to oblige. Continue reading “‘Nip Addict”→

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It being close to 2015 and all, I got to thinking about calendars. Perhaps, I realized, folks might actually want one. Maybe they need one for the fridge, or their desk, or similar. Maybe they’d like an inexpensive one to hang upon their wall. So I dug round some sites, and discovered that Cafe Press makes a quite lovely 11 x 17 inch print calendar, all nice and glossy and colorful, for cheap! I designed you one, and here ’tis: Continue reading “Mount St. Helens Calendar Prints – and Moar! – Now on Sale!”→

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I want to extend a heartfelt “THANK YOU THANKYOU!” to all the folks who ordered my geopunny products over the holiday season. You’re the best customers ever! B and I had a lot of fun making you wonderful stuff, and it looks like many of you had a lot of fun getting your gifties: Continue reading “Yay, Happy Customers! Thank You!”→

Among the roughly ten trillion projects I’ve got in the works is the Really Bad Inspiration from the Bible initiative. I’ve got lots of beautiful photos, y’see, like this:

Lovely sunset. Would look great with bizarre Bible verses.

Plenty of them are the kind of things you see on inspirational posters what has Bible verses about soft, fluffy stuff, and I figure, it’s about time to show what the Bible’s really like. I’m going to make my own inspirational images, quoting the worst, bloodiest, most intolerant or bizarre bits of the Bible. It’ll look roughly like this: Continue reading “Gimme Really Horrifying Bible Verses”→

Ah, yes, tis the season when many of us are forced to display some false jolly with relations and family friends who treat Fox News as the gospel truth. Normally, those conversations are terribly awkward and often infuriating. But this year, my darlings, I have got something for you that should help ease the pain.

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All right, my darlings, I’m out for the week. I’ve got Aunty Flow on the way, a ton of work to get done, and I hear there’s a holiday lurking somewhere up ahead. By the bye, if you’re way behind on the gift-giving, you can send an ebook instantly, and there’s a handy set o’ lists right here. You’re welcome.

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If I ever become ridiculously rich, I’m going to open up a geological theme park. Can you imagine the rides? Earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, and more – all very exciting. And educational. I think we could make it work, don’t you? Imagine the field trips!

Thank you to all who expressed interest in the position of Research Assistant, which I never actually posted. I’m afraid the position has been filled for some time. Not that my assistant has ever provided much assistance: she thinks she’s helping, and that’s what counts.

The Assisstant

Due to a fair bit of insomnia and a cat using me as a mattress, I’ve finished Numbers’s gargantuan book. I supposed keeping me pinned down with no choice but to read or go slowly mad from inactivity is assisting. I’d fire her, but I value my life. You can try to remove her from her position, but I warn you: she’s quick with the teeth for an old fart.